Irish soda bread

It’s St.Patrick’s day on Thursday so now seems the perfect time to share my recipe for Irish soda bread. Soda bread is one of the easiest and quickest breads to make, has a lovely crispy crust and a delicious soft crumb.

As the daughter of a master baker I love the smell of fresh baked bread. I can still remember waking up in the mornings to the smell of fresh baked bread, so carrying on the family tradition of baking, allbeit in a smaller way, I often bake my own bread. It gives me such satisfaction and although not difficult to make good yeasted bread takes time to rise (I currently make sourdough bread most frequently and it takes about 14 hours to make from start to finish) but sometimes you need a loaf in a hurry and this is where soda bread comes into it’s own. It still tastes fabulous and has a great crust but it only takes minutes to make and then it’s straight into the oven to bake.

I would love to say that I was given this recipe by my Irish mother-in-law and that it has been in the family for years, but while she was a most remarkable and lovely woman (I was very lucky on the mother-in-law front!), she would have been the first to admit that she was no cook. But even without a long family history this recipe is a good traditional one with just a couple of minor tweaks.

Soda bread is often made with all wholemeal flour or half wholemeal and half plain flour, but I find both a bit heavy so opt for a mixture of 2 parts white flour and 1 part wholemeal. It gives a good texture with some of the benefits of the wholemeal flour.

The other change I have made is that traditionally soda bread is made with buttermilk. The acidity of the buttermilk reacts with the bicarbonate of soda in the bread to produce CO2 which makes the bread rise. These days even in London I find buttermilk hard to find unless I go to a large supermarket and so I make mine with natural yogurt instead which works just as well. Use full fat rather than low fat natural yoghurt and not a a greek style or set yogurt – I have found Yeo valley natural yogurt works well.

Flavoured Soda bread

If you like plain soda bread why not experiment and try adding some extra flavourings to the bread. I like the following variations but you could also try experimenting yourself to make your own favourite flavoured bread. Stir into the bread before adding the yogurt.

Add 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme or rosemary and handful of sultanas

Add 2-3 tbsp snipped chives

Sauté 1 thinly sliced small onion in a little olive oil until just golden and add to the dough

Soda bread is best eaten the day it is made but if you want to keep it to the following day then pop it in a bag to help keep it moist. It also freezes well so you could pop what you don’t need into the freezer for another day.

About Jacqueline Bellefontaine

Jacqueline has been a cookery writer and food stylist for over 25 years and is a member of the Guild of Food Writers. She is the author of 18 cookbooks and now writes two blogs where she shares the recipes she cooks at home for family and friends, or just for fun. Jacqueline started her food writing career on a weekly magazine and as a result likes to champion good basic home cooking. The daughter of a master baker she is passionate about home baking and is happiest in the kitchen knocking up a batch of buns or baking a loaf of bread. Jacqueline has two grown sons and lives with her husband in Central London.

Reader Interactions

Comments

Could you substitute the combinations of flours for oat and rice flour possibly?Id like to make it gluten free. The other ingredients are suitable for my diet as I suffer with Chrohns. I know the flours can be different with dryness and moistness, there can be issues with coconut flour? I’m not knowledgeable on baking.

Hi Rachel. To be honest I am not very knowledgeable about gluten free baking. But my sister may be able to help as she has recently been diagnosed celiac. She is an excellent baker (it runs in the family as my dad was a Master Baker) so I will have a word with her and see what she has to say. If she needs to test it, it may take a few days to get back to you. Hope you dont mind waiting. Jacqui

Hi Rachel Sorry it has taken so long to reply. My sister a few variations on the recipe and was successful using both all white and all brown gluten free flour from Dove Farms. Although the texture was slightly more dense with the brown flour she felt that one had the flavour. She added and extra 1/2 tsp baking powder.

Hope this helps. If you give it a go I would love to know how you got on j x